You're listening to Take It Personally, a podcast for photographers about the personal side of business and the art of standing out. Here, I'll help you build a business and a brand that is uniquely you. If you want to attract dream clients and stop looking at the competition to decide your next move, if you are ready to show up as a confident branding authority to help you serve your clients and consider your goals and priorities too, if you want to make your mark in a new, underserved niche of photography, then this is the place for you. I'm your host, Maddie Peschong, South Dakota brand photographer and educator. I'm a straight-shooting, Instagram-obsessed, diehard Swiftie who has built a multi-six-figure business on the back of brand photography, all while raising a family, and I know you can do the same. Let's get ready to take it personally.

Everybody always wants to talk about how to get more clients, including me. I love talking about how to get more clients. But what if your biggest growth lever isn't your marketing? I know, that's coming from the girl who loves marketing, but what if that's not your biggest opportunity? What if that opportunity is actually sitting with what happens after someone books you? Yes, marketing matters, branding matters, positioning matters. These are all things that I will argue until the end of time matter if you want to book more and better, more aligned clients in your business. But today we're gonna go back to the basics and talk about the system that makes all of this work So first let me ask you this. I want you to think about from the very first inquiry that someone sends into your business to final delivery, what does your client experience actually look like? And is that client experience driving more business into your business? If it's not, it should be, and I want you to listen up. So whether you are brand new or well established, I'm willing to bet that your best clients are probably coming from referrals and returns. I've had this conversation so often lately as people are feeling really burnt out when it comes to their marketing and creating content and making sure their website looks perfect, and all of these things that, again, I'm going to argue are really important and do really matter. However, I say that knowing that the best clients in your business are probably coming from other people who've booked you. They're coming from reviews. They're coming from referrals. They're coming from maybe someone posting about you on social media or telling a friend about you. Or even from a client who booked a couple of years ago and has now come back, or a client who booked a wedding a couple years ago and now is launching a business. Those are probably your best clients, and that isn't going to change. It also doesn't mean don't market, right? It doesn't mean that you don't need a great website. It doesn't mean that you don't need to understand Instagram strategy or social media strategy. But it does mean that you can recognize that a great client experience is marketing. And in fact, it's some of your best marketing because the trust is already built. The sale is easier. The relationship is warmer. There's a statistic that it's a million times That's not the statistic, but it's a million times easier to sell someone on your business to book a client if they have already booked you. It is easier to book a return client, or it's easier to turn a wedding client into a newborn client. That is easier than selling a new client. And I don't... I was joking. I don't know exactly what the statistic is, but it has been proven that's easier to do because the trust is already built. It already exists. This is especially critical when you are early and building a name for yourself. The client in front of your lens right now is your most powerful marketing tool. Your next client is probably going to come from the client who is currently in front of your lens. That is really exciting, but it's also a big problem if your client experience is not set up in a way to actually make that come to fruition So let's first talk about your inquiry process because this really sets you up for either success or failure, quite frankly. Not to be dramatic, but it's an incredibly important process that you really want to nail, and you've got one chance to do that. So I want you to ask yourself, is it easy to inquire with you? Because any friction here is going to cost you bookings before you even get the chance to talk to this person. The questions that you ask during inquiry, during that discovery call. So once they've come through your contact form, you've emailed back and forth, you have that discovery call on the calendar. The questions that you ask during inquiry are often why someone books you over another photographer, even if they don't realize it. A lot of people are sleeping on this because most photographers will get in their inbox and respond to an inquiry, or get on a discovery call and chat with a potential client, and they will ask questions like, "What date works for you?" Or they will just talk the whole time. They'll talk about their process. They won't ask the right questions. But great photographers ask the right questions. They ask things like, "What's your goal with this session? What are you going to use these photos for? What do you have coming up that we need to create content for? Where do you feel like you have gaps in your marketing right now? Where do you want your business to be in five years? Have you had brand photography before? What worked? What didn't? Have you thought about this? Have you thought about it this way?" Every time that you ask a strategic question, your client is thinking, "Oh my gosh, the other photographer didn't ask me that. In fact, nobody has asked me that." And that gives them pause when it comes to booking a photographer besides you, even if that photographer is maybe cheaper or available sooner or whatever it might be. When you ask the right questions, it makes them go, "Oh, wait, does this person actually know more than the other photographer that I've talked to?" And the answer is yes, right? Because we are strategic brand photographers. We are not just offering brand photography and doing like vibey headshots in a studio. That's not the name of our game. We are strategic about how we are creating sessions that are actually going to make our clients money, and it starts with the questions that we are asking on discovery calls So the next time that you go into a discovery call, or even if you're going back and forth via email, if you're not doing discovery calls, remember, you're not just gathering information. You are positioning yourself. Your positioning is not just what's on your website or what's on your Instagram. It's every time that a potential client has an interaction with you. That's positioning, too. So in a situation like this, we want you to be positioning yourself as the expert before the shoot even happens, before the shoot is even booked. That information also becomes the blueprint for everything else that follows. So from here, we move on to designing the session from what you know. How are you taking the information from their inquiry, from their discovery call, and actually using it to design the shoot? Or from their questionnaire or whatever you're using to gather information. This is where good photographers become really unforgettable ones. Being able to really listen to your clients and what they're struggling with and what their hopes and dreams are for their brand and how you can really help them. This is where you get to collect all that information that is going to make it so much easier for you to design a really unforgettable shoot The challenge here is that a lot of your clients are probably doing work that isn't inherently visual. They're maybe on their laptop, they're on calls. The work is happening like in their head or behind a screen. It's not super visual. Not all of our clients are florists or interior designers or even graphic designers. Not all of our clients have these really visual jobs. We've got clients that are accountants and lawyers and bankers and coaches, and they need our help pulling out the visual elements of their brand. So do you have a process for translating who someone is and what they do into creative and purposeful imagery? Because that's the difference between pretty photos and photos that actually work for a brand. When your client sees that you took everything that they told you and like, built this incredible shoot around it, that's the moment that their loyalty is locked in. They're not gonna be able to shut up about that to their friends because they feel so seen and understood, and they're excited about their business, right? It reinvigorates them, and they're excited to market and sell again, And that is more visibility for them, and by extension, it's more visibility for you because you're helping them get there Okay, so we've talked about inquiry. We've talked about really creating and designing the session. Now let's talk about the experience on set. This is wildly underrated. Almost nobody talks about this, at least in the brand photography world. Does your client feel comfortable? Are they having fun? Do they feel taken care of? So often clients walk in the door, and I will ask how they're feeling, and they're like, "I'm nervous. I don't want to be here. This is scary." And my job in that moment is to validate those feelings. I had a brand shoot recently, and it was like pulling teeth. The only reason that I did it was because my web designer was like, "Matti, we need more photos." So I understand what it is like to be on set and not want to be there, but to know that I need to be there. And so when a client comes to me and says, "I'm scared. I'm nervous. I don't want to be here. This is nerve-wracking," I'm not saying, "Don't worry, it'll be fine. You look great," even though that's true, right? It will be fine. They do look great. I'm saying, "I totally understand. I've got you. I promise now that you're here you've done all the hard work. Now it's my turn. It-- this is my job time. You don't have to worry. You just have to follow directions. I have got you." So I'm validating that they are scared. They are nervous. That's a normal feeling. I feel the same way, and you've already done the hard part. You're good. From here on out, we're just gonna play music and have fun, and all you have to do is follow directions. Your work here is done. And in that moment, they can breathe that sigh of relief. So are you making them feel comfortable from the jump? And if we want to go even further back than this, what does that look like leading up to the shoot? Are you in their inbox periodically helping them prep for the session? Do you hop on a call? Do you send them a shoot guide? All of these things are building their confidence in you, building their confidence in themselves, buildin-building their confidence in the shoot that's coming up. All of that impacts how they feel on shoot day and, by extension, how they feel about the shoot in general Even the most nervous clients should leave feeling like it was their day, like they rocked it. Even if they're like, "Whew, I don't wanna do that again for a while. That was a lot." That, whatever. They should still feel like they nailed it, and that was really their day, and it was a good use of their time. Just based on the energy and the excitement from the shoot, and seeing those couple of photos on the back of your camera, they should be feeling that way. Are you engaging all five senses at the shoot? Are you setting the mood, the music, the energy? The experience is the transformation. I will talk about this until I am blue in the face. It is about so much more than photos. It is the transformation that happens at the shoot. And the transformation and that feeling of transformation can't happen if the client is just a nervous ball of energy the entire time, right? We have to work to help them relax and help them feel confident and empowered. That's what they're gonna go home and tell their friends about this could be little things. It's selecting the right playlist for the shoot, making sure you have music, period. That's gonna fill the silence so much better than just dead air. Are you asking their coffee order and bringing them coffee? Are you serving them a mimosa when they sit down in the hair and makeup chair? Does the studio smell nice, right? Has it been cleaned, and it is a nice place to be in, and it's not chaotic energy everywhere? All of these things impact our client experience. We want them to really feel like they are... Yes, they're taking this day to invest in their business and all of that. Yes, it's a write-off, and it's for your marketing and all of those things, but it should also feel like they're spoiling themselves a little bit. They're spoiling themselves in a way that's going to grow their business And that's going to impact their bottom line. We want them to enjoy this A client who had fun is a client who's going to refer you without ever being asked. I want you to think back in your Rolodex of clients that you've had over the years, and think about sessions where you've just had fun. The client is having a good time, you're having a good time, you're vibing. What's that client's take once they get their photos back? Do they talk about you? Do they tell your friends? And I ask this because I have had sessions where I deliver photos and I'm like, "Those photos are good." I'm proud of them. It's not something where I would do a reshoot or anything like that. But maybe I'm like, "Ugh, it's not my best work, and the sun wasn't in the best place, and I struggled with the lighting," whatever. But if we had a good time, and I'm thinking back to especially when I did family photography or weddings. If the kids were happy, if the day felt like a party, if they were genuinely having a good time, then they loved the photos. And they didn't care that the sun was a little too bright, or they didn't care that there were mosquitoes or, I don't know. Whatever it might be. If they had a good time, they are going to love the photos, and that is still true with brand photography. If they had a good time, they are so much more likely to love the photos, and they are so much more likely to refer you to their friends and family without you even having to ask, and just to talk about the experience in general, which is half the battle. Because it's great if someone will say, "I'm looking for a brand photographer," and your client will say, "Oh, you should go see Maddie." That's great. We love that. It's even better if they have their brand shoot on a Thursday, and they're at happy hour on Friday, and they're like, "Oh my gosh, I can't wait to tell you guys about this brand shoot that I just did. I have to tell you about this Maddie girl. I loved everything about..." That's so much better, right? We want people to talk about us without even being asked because they had such a great experience, and that happens when you create that kind of experience on So then we're on to delivery. And I know that you know when it comes to delivery, you want to underpromise and overdeliver. You wanna do that on your timeline, on quantity, on presentation, all of the above, underpromise and overdeliver. So you tell them they're gonna get their photos back in three weeks, you deliver them in two. You tell them they're getting 100 photos, you send 110. You send over a really beautiful curated gallery with a Maddie's Favorites or Photographer's Favorites subfolder so they get this amazing curated experience right when they open their gallery, right? So you are underpromising and overdelivering the entire time, especially during delivery. And then are you asking for a review? Are you asking for feedback? Today inside of Rebrand, my group coaching program, we talked about all of the changes with SEO and AEO, and one of the biggest pieces is that reviews are more and more important for your local business on Google. So consistently asking for reviews after you wrap a session is really important. If you don't have that worked into your workflow already, make sure that's something that you really make a priority. And are you inviting these people back in? Do they know that they should be getting brand photos regularly, and that when they're ready, you're their person? You wanna start planting the seed as soon as, honestly, even at the session, but certainly once you deliver the photos. You can start saying things like, "Okay when you start to feel like your content library is running low, that's usually the sign that it's time to shoot again. Here's what that looks like. I offer a special rate to my returning clients." A really great delivery process doesn't close the loop here. It creates the opportunity to open the next one. So it just becomes something where your clients are returning, raving, reviewing constantly I know that this is a lot. Client experience is a lot. And when you're talking about something as strategic and thoughtful as a brand session that, oftentimes the planning process is spanning a few weeks or a few months, there's a lot of moving parts here that you wanna make sure are really locked in when it comes to the full experience of the shoot. But it's so important because all the marketing in the world won't work if the experience behind it doesn't hold up. You cannot pour into a leaky bucket. If your process isn't creating raving fans, more marketing just means more people finding out faster that something is off, and that you're actually not all you're cracked up to be. And that's terrible. That's not what we want at all. We want those referrals to come in and be even more blown away than they thought they would be. So this has to come first. It's not the boring backend stuff, it is your marketing. The people in front of your lens right now, this week, this month, that's your future marketing, with the goal being that every single client who works with you should leave thinking, "Oh my gosh, I need to tell everyone about her." So if this episode has made you realize that you want to be more intentional about what you're actually creating inside the session, not just the experience around it, but really the strategy behind the images themselves, that is exactly what my upcoming free masterclass is all about

Inside the Sessions That Sell masterclass, I'm gonna teach you how to design brand sessions with a strategy behind them from the start. So the photos actually do something, the client gets a real result, and you have a story to tell that makes your next client say, "I want that." Your brand sessions should not only create images that sell for your clients, but your brand sessions should help you sell your brand photography services. That's what we're covering inside Sessions That Sell.

which is on June 25th at noon Central. So you can go to maddiepishong.com/masterclass to register or head to the link in the show notes. Can't wait to see you there.

Thank you so much for listening to Take It Personally. If you haven't already, would you head over to iTunes and leave us a review? This is the best way to let other photographers know about the show and help keep us creating content you crave. And if you want more tips and tools to build your personal photography brand, head over to my website, maddiepichon.com. Here, you can access my downloadable ultimate personal brand session shot list to get your clients singing your praises, and browse my blog for more trade secrets to help you hone your craft and grow your business. Love to learn while you listen? Visit maddiepichon.com and click on Podcast for all things Take It Personally, from show notes to recent episodes and incredible guest profiles. Remember, friend, the most important part of any brand is the people behind it. Branding and business is personal, so let's take it personally.